Thursday, July 19, 2007

If there was one thing I kept hearing about High Tea the Victoria Room, it was about the darkness of the room.

How dark could it be I wondered?

I almost walk past the entrance to the Victoria Room, two dark wooden doors plain but for a pair of long brass handles. The doors are closed, and the two narrow panes of glass reveal nothing but reflections of the traffic behind me.

Pushing open the heavy doors, I am confronted with darkness. It's comparative darkness to the daylight outside, and as my eyes slowly adjust, I stumble your way blindly up the staircase, dimly illuminated by a trail of tealights.

By the time I reach the top of the stairs, I am grateful for the wonderful lightbulbs above, shrouded though they are by layers of muslin. The dimly lit room is filled with an eclectic mix of Victorian style lounges and arm chairs. Some people sit at cosy tables for two, others perch delicately on lounges huddled around low tables. Potted palms and vintage fabric lamps dot the room. A jazz soundtrack hums in the background, a wailing saxophone searching our souls.

"Why, I feel like I could just sit here and be looking out at my plantation", drawls S with a laugh.

Scones served with triple berry conserve and chantilly cream

We find the service a little disjointed, our teas ordered but not arriving until five minutes after our high teas arrive. I'm also disappointed to discover that the high tea only includes one pot of tea - extra water is provided but I'd been looking forward to a whole banquet of different teas like I'd enjoyed at the Sofitel.

The sandwiches are served on soft and fluffy bread, the crusts trimmed, the fillings fresh if a little subdued. The scones are enormous. We split them in half and slather them generously with jam and heavy handed dollops of cream.

The dessert plate is a four-course journey of dainty little sweets. The sticky date puddings, moist little cupcakes topped with a coffee icing, have plenty of sighing fans, but I'm more impressed by the passionfruit yo-yo, two rich buttery crumbly shortbreads sandwiched with a thick layer of sweet and tangy passionfruit icing.

Sticky date puddings and passionfruit yo-yos

Mini florentines are high on the sugar factor, a cluster of cornflakes, almonds, peanuts, raisins and glace cherries spread with chocolate on one side.

The girl-o-metre is off the scale with the vanilla bean cupcakes, frosted generously with a swirl of pink icing and dusted liberally with pink sugar crystals. The cupcake itself is light and fluffy with the subtle sweetness of real vanilla.

We sip and sup away a leisurely Sunday afternoon. We leave reluctantly. The jazz plays on.

8 Comments:

It was all looking lovely until I saw the teapots. The best they could manage was those ugly metal ones? What, a china teapot is out of the question? You can't make proper tea in a metal teapot, it doesn't hold the heat the same way as china ...

Another problem with those pots are that they are very hot and difficult to handle.Last time i was there i stole one of those beautiful ornate tea strainers,picture here http://www.flickr.com/photos/missk1/416933322/

I used to love high tea .. at the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore.. but started with english tea.. became very localized.. so that ended my high teas .. and of course.. coming to Y-town.. there is NO high - tea..!! that's even worst..!!